NOS Football • Sunday, 4:30 PM • Adjusted Sunday, 7:00 PM
View the summary of Almere City – Feyenoord
Without an ill Arne Slot, Feyenoord has once again achieved a hard-fought victory in the Premier League. Against Almere City it became 2-0 for the Rotterdam team. A nice long shot and a tap-in from Yankuba Minteh resulted in two goals of the match.
Almere City lost 6-1 in De Kuip earlier this season, but Alex Pastoor’s team has grown considerably since then. Almere had not lost the past three matches and only had to concede one goal.
In addition, Feyenoord did not look completely fresh. In the interim round of the Europa League, the Rotterdam team lost to AS Roma on penalties on Thursday. With those 120 minutes in hand, Feyenoord had a difficult time visiting Almere for a long time.
View the responses from Sipke Hulshoff, Yankuba Minteh and Alex Pastoor below.
Feyenoord, where assistant Sipke Hulshoff took over the honors as Slot’s replacement, played sloppily on the difficult-to-play field, but the home team’s unbridled efforts also prevented Feyenoord from making the play.
VAR disallows goal
Yet the visitors seemed to take the lead in the eighteenth minute. Lutsharel Geertruida tapped in on a pass from Luka Ivanusec, but then VAR came into play. After much deliberation, the verdict was that Santiago Gimenez had been offside when setting up the attack.
Jochem Ritmeester van de Kamp seemed to be able to easily intercept a deep ball, but was unable to do so, after which the ball ended up with the Feyenoord striker. The VAR did not assess it as a new situation and called referee Edwin van de Graaf to the screen. He agreed with that assessment and disallowed the goal.
ANPMats Wieffer and Lutsharel Geertruida are told that the Feyenoord goal is disallowed
Almere City, which played without the suspended starting players Stije Resink, Peer Koopmeiners and Joey Jacobs, was immediately back on track, Feyenoord slightly less so.
It gave the home team a huge opportunity within a minute after the disallowed goal. Yoann Cathline broke through the Rotterdam defense, but goalie Timon Wellenreuther prevented Almere City from gaining a lead.
Just before half time, the home fans bounced back again when Álvaro Peña scored from just outside the box. His shot was just tapped over the crossbar by Wellenreuther.
Pro ShotsTimon Wellenreuther taps a ball over the bar
Also in the second half, Feyenoord barely managed to put together a good attack, let alone create a big chance. Almere City gave the opponent little space, fought every game firmly and disrupted Feyenoord optimally.
After twenty minutes of play, Almere City itself had its best chance yet. Jason van Duiven shot a deflected ball hard towards the goal, but Wellenreuther was in the way again.
A whole host of fresh attackers had to help Feyenoord get over the dead center. Yankuba Minteh, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Ayase Ueda and Calvin Stengs came in. Jahanbakhsh immediately asserted himself with a shot that just went over.
A few minutes later it was Minteh’s turn, who was allowed to moor from afar. And with success. The Gambian beautifully found the far corner for the 0-1.
Almere then looked more for attack and that led to some dangerous situations. However, they were not dangerous enough to lead to great opportunities. Only Damian van Bruggen was close to the equalizer. However, his shot went just wide via a Feyenoord leg.
Not much later, Minteh ended the match with his second of the day: 0-2.
ANPAlmere City keeper Nordin Bakker can only check Minteh’s ball
There was great relief afterwards at Feyenoord, who can now focus on the semi-final of the cup against FC Groningen next Thursday. The top match at leader PSV is scheduled for next Sunday.
Number ten Almere City will play away to Heracles next week.